Criminal Justice in Diverse Communities is a special issue (Volume 17 No 1) of the journal Law in Context. It includes an introduction by the editors which provides an overview of the challenges confronting the criminal justice system as the cultural assumptions underlying the system have been eroded by proliferation of public and private values. It explores how equality before the law can be preserved now that the justice of criminal justice is being defined in terms of claims for recognition of certain issues faced by particular groups, in addition to claims for redistribution of resources in the form of less police harassment or better police protection for specific groups or 'communities'.